Is it harder to win a national championship than a world championship?, Can we create a new level of skill competition like table tennis
Tianjin, National Convention and Exhibition Center. When the timer jumps to "0", the second National Skills Competition Floral Competition ends. In an instant, the audience spontaneously burst into enthusiastic applause. Many people picked up their cameras to record the colorful scenes in front of them, while others cheered and cheered for the contestants.
Such applause, shutter sounds, and cheers can be heard from time to time during various competitions. On September 19th, the second National Skills Competition concluded. A total of 145 contestants from Shanghai participated in all 109 events and achieved excellent results with 10 gold, 10 silver, and 10 bronze awards, with over three-quarters of the contestants winning.
As the comprehensive national vocational skills competition with the highest specifications, the most projects, and the largest scale in China, what new trends and changes in industrial development are reflected in this competition? What are the advantages of Shanghai in cultivating skilled talents? What is the future path for skilled talents?
Unprecedented "volume"
Entering the arena, competitions such as aircraft maintenance, industrial machinery, and additive manufacturing have demonstrated the development achievements of advanced manufacturing industry; Strategic emerging industries such as Industry 4.0, industrial robot system operation and maintenance, and drone maintenance reflect that China is becoming a leading "smart manufacturing" country in the world; Floral, baking, fashion techniques, as well as health and social care, showcasing new trends in life with strong viewing value... In each competition, contestants constantly climb towards the peak of their skills.
Shanghai athlete Zhu Yujie at the baking event competition site
Gu Junjie, born in 2001, is younger than many of the contestants on site. However, he has already won the gold medal in the printing media technology event of the 2022 World Skills Competition special event, achieving a breakthrough of zero gold medals for the Chinese team in this event. After graduation, he stayed at his alma mater Shanghai Publishing and Printing College to teach, and this time he came to the National Skills Competition as a coach.
When the reporter found Gu Junjie at the printing media technology project competition site, he was focused on watching every move on the field. From the world stage to the national platform, he not only doesn't feel relaxed, but also feels a bit uneasy. According to his introduction, this competition project is divided into three modules based on the standards of the World Skills Competition: offset printing, digital printing, and additional tasks. There are a total of 23 participants from across the country participating.
With many contestants and high levels of skill, competition is naturally very intense. Although Gu Junjie's disciple Luo Yuchen ultimately lived up to his expectations and won the gold medal, his judgment was still relatively conservative until he learned the result. "He should be in the first tier, and whether he can win or not is uncertain.".
This skills competition follows the standards of the World Championships, and contestants are required to complete several modules of work during the competition. They must compete for six to seven hours on the field every day, which also puts high demands on their physical fitness. Many athletes not only need to hone their skills before the competition, but also spend a lot of time on physical training, improving endurance through sports such as long-distance running and swimming.
Shanghai athlete Sun Yan at the Fine Carpentry Competition
"Ideals are greater than heaven, and the harder you go, the more you move forward." This is the motto of Shanghai athlete Zhu Junfeng. He from Yangpu Vocational and Technical School won the gold medal in the body repair project this time. On the second day of the competition, he also had a minor condition - he suddenly caught a cold. Fortunately, his previous training was solid enough, and he persisted in completing operations such as welding, cutting, polishing, shaping, and bonding. He repaired the car in front of him to a level where it could be repainted, and ultimately stood out from the crowd of competitors.
Behind the "roll" is the emphasis placed by various regions on the cultivation of skilled talents. Including Shanghai, a total of 12 delegations participated in all 109 projects this time. Zhang Lan, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, found that some projects originally belonged to the traditional advantages of the eastern region, but now the skill levels of athletes in related competitions in the central and western regions are also improving. "This is a good thing!" He sighed, according to this trend, the difficulty of winning a national championship may be higher than winning a world championship, just like in table tennis competitions.
Good hands-on skills and programming skills
"Is this also considered a skills competition project?" During the competition, Tianjin citizen Lao Xu carried photography equipment to observe everywhere. When he arrived at the cloud computing project competition site, he couldn't help but ask this question when he saw the contestants facing white-collar workers who were "staring at the screen" and working in a grid room.
Shanghai athlete Li Junye at the CNC turning project competition site
In fact, the competition in skill competitions is no longer limited to "manual skills". In the new era, great country craftsmen should not only inherit traditional craftsmanship skills, but also adapt to changes in the times and enhance comprehensive literacy in all aspects. At this competition, projects such as cloud computing, website technology, 3D digital game art, and artificial intelligence engineering technology require contestants to have mathematical and programming abilities, as well as the ability to understand English documents.
Li Ye, Secretary and Deputy Director of the Party Branch of the Shanghai Vocational Skills Appraisal Center, explained that these projects have been included in the scope of skills competitions, which reflects that the current cultivation of skilled talents is no longer singular, but is moving towards the direction of composite talents. "In the past, we divided talents into research, technology, skills and other types, but now these types have integrated with each other. Skilled talents have gone through the stage of only knowing how to hammer and repair circuits, and have transformed into composite talents needed by society.".
Shanghai athlete Lu Junwei at the Industry 4.0 project competition site
For example, in the past, skilled individuals who could speak fluent English were rare, but now they are not uncommon. Many events in this competition require contestants to communicate in English, and freight forwarding projects even require English to be used throughout the competition. In addition, contestants also need to master the freight forwarding business process proficiently, and complete competition tasks such as customer acquisition, quotation calculation, transportation management, cost calculation, sea freight operation, complaint handling, and claim handling within the specified deadline and pressure.
"Just like a super commander!" Zhang Jin, a coach of the freight forwarding project and a teacher at Shanghai Donghai Vocational and Technical College, described the player's role. She said that contestants need to have comprehensive and professional logistics knowledge, precise and quick response ability, as well as work thinking, "knowing how to work in the enterprise, rather than simply brushing questions in school.".
For young athletes, achieving these is not easy. The 109 events of this competition are divided into world events and national events. The top ranked players in the world events will be nominated for the Chinese training team of the 47th World Skills Competition. They will have the opportunity to participate in the World Skills Competition in Lyon, France next year. According to the regulations of the World Skills Competition, the age of participants is generally less than 22 years old, which means that the age of participants in the World Skills Competition this year is generally not high.
However, Shanghai athlete and 20-year-old Zhou Yuxin is not particularly afraid of this. The school emphasizes the integration of industry and education. As a student, she has already interned at multiple freight forwarding companies and gained a lot of practical experience. Major seaports, airports, and their routes around the world are firmly remembered in her mind. Combined with her excellent English expression ability, she successfully won the championship of the freight forwarding project in this competition.
"Shanghai has a high degree of internationalization, good foreign languages, and strong comprehensive abilities, which are the unique advantages of Shanghai athletes," said Li Ye. In addition, the contestants of this competition not only include employees and students from vocational colleges, but also doctoral and master's students from different provinces. Among the contestants in Shanghai are students from "Double First Class" universities such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He pointed out that the participation of highly educated athletes indicates that under the trend of integrated development of technical skills, the demand for improving the technical skills of talents with different educational levels is constantly increasing.
Industrial development indicators
From artificial intelligence training, UAV installation and debugging to Internet marketing and all media operation, with the pace of industrial transformation and technology iteration, 20 new professional and digital technology skills events were added to more than 80 projects of the first competition.
At the competition site of the industrial robot system operation project, the reporter saw that the contestants were fully focused on setting and programming the parameters of the industrial robot, enabling the robot to independently complete processes such as automatic material transportation, positioning and grabbing, defect detection, visual evaluation, and finished product warehousing. "This is the same as the equipment, process, and standards in actual work," explained the coach watching from the sidelines.
Whether it is a national or international competition, a major concept of skill competitions is to promote the improvement of the level and professional ability of skilled workers. In terms of event settings, they always closely combine with actual needs and never deviate from reality. Therefore, skill competitions are not only a grand stage for showcasing skills, but also a compass for industrial development.
With the increasing demand for social health care, the new profession of "health caregivers" has entered people's vision. In 2020, "Health Caregivers" were officially included in China's Occupational Classification Dictionary. At this competition, health and social care events also appeared.
At the competition site, simulated life scenes such as the ward, bedroom, and living room were set up, and each contestant was taking care of the standard patient played by the actor. Zeng Xiaojun, a 2020 undergraduate nursing student from Shanghai Health Medical College, is one of the most outstanding performers among them. I saw her smiling throughout the entire process, communicating with the patient in English, and skillfully assisting the patient in completing training tasks such as getting up and walking.
"Some cases are very tricky, such as patients suffering from sudden illnesses and also suffering from many chronic diseases. Some patients pay attention to privacy and are unwilling to communicate, which greatly tests the players' ability to adapt on the spot." Coach Wu Yixin of Zeng Xiaojun said, these are also situations that health caretakers often encounter in their daily work.
In order to improve her caregiving ability, Zeng Xiaoyu will stay after the competition to observe other players. She found that some contestants are more approachable than herself, and patients trust them more. "I will learn more from these excellent peers, constantly accumulate experience, and do better in practical work in the future.".
The future road is longer
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the total number of skilled talents in China has exceeded 200 million, accounting for more than 26% of the total employment; There are over 60 million highly skilled talents. Various skilled talents are active in the production line and at the forefront of innovation, becoming an important force in promoting high-quality development.
"Cultivating skilled talents cannot rely solely on competitions," Zhang Lan said. High level and high standard national or world-class skill competitions can break people's prejudices against skilled talents and vocational education, and stimulate the motivation of skilled talents to strive for innovation. However, in order to truly inspire more workers, especially the younger generation, to embark on the path of skill development and service to the country, and not let skill competitions be just a gust of wind, it is necessary to coordinate social resources, strengthen the combination of competition and training, promote competition and learning, and persistently improve the level of skill talent cultivation.
At the floral event venue, the booth of contestant 1 was crowded with spectators. Nevertheless, she calmly pruned the flower branches, her hand movements crisp and agile, unaffected at all. This contestant is Jiang Chenqi from Shanghai Vocational and Technical College of Construction Management, with one month left until her 18th birthday.
Shanghai athlete Jiang Chenqi is at the flower art project site
Jiang Chenqi is young and thin, but her "small body" contains "great energy". During the competition, she moved a large flowerpot weighing over ten pounds and dragged away a mud and water bucket weighing twenty or thirty pounds. In the final "blind box" module, she drew a question with the theme of Tianjin clay figurine Zhang and cleverly used leaves to create a ribbon like veneer, then selected relevant flower materials based on the color matching of the clay figurine Zhang. This work won a round of applause on site, and she eventually won the championship in the floral project.
At the same time as Jiang Chenqi won the gold medal, her high school classmates were working hard for the college entrance examination. When it comes to choosing a vocational school at that time, she attributes the reason to "failure in the middle school entrance examination.". In fact, with her grades at the time, it was not a problem for her to attend an ordinary high school, but this Shanghai girl had a strong decision to go to a vocational school. "At that time, my parents didn't understand and thought I was playful and unwilling to continue studying. But I think it's better to learn some practical and interesting crafts instead of staying in high school.". Later, with Jiang Chenqi's constant persuasion, the parents agreed.
Nowadays, the photo of Jiang Chenqi standing on the highest podium in the country has spread to the WeChat groups of her family and friends. She has become even more determined in her belief that "as long as she puts in effort, there will always be rewards" and "the next goal is Lyon.".
A skill that can stand firm and move the world. In recent years, Shanghai has continuously strengthened the construction of a high skilled talent team, improved the evaluation system for skilled talents, and stimulated the endogenous motivation of the talent team. In such an environment, the future path for skilled talents is becoming increasingly broad.
World Skills Competition winners Gu Junjie and Wu Yixin have both stayed on campus to teach, which is a way out; Technical experts who have been working on the front line for a long time are often seen as "hot cakes" in the eyes of companies. They have the opportunity to become reserve talents such as quality instructors, which is also a path; Skilled talents studying abroad are even more favored by overseas universities than other talents, and can receive full scholarships
In the view of many experienced masters and craftsmen at the competition site, the new generation of skilled talents have more diverse choices, and their career prospects are more promising and promising. As Zhou Jingwei, Vice Dean of the School of Handicraft at Shanghai Vocational College of Arts and Crafts and inheritor of underglaze gold decoration, said, "One skill can change a person's fate, and one hand is enough to support a long life.".
On September 15th, Zhou Jingwei was showcasing his underglaze golden color technique at the Shanghai Pavilion of "Chinese Unique Skills" located at the National Convention and Exhibition Center
